R2-D2 Rain Barrel Collects Water Without Swimming through the Dagobah Swamp

I live in an area where being green and recycling isn’t really a big thing. In fact, I lived here for 10 years before I knew we even had a recycling center. In some communities, though, the push to be green is much more substantial. Case in point – in Knoxville, Tennessee, each year they hold a contest for The Water Quality Forum where geeks and artists get to create rain barrels for the collection of rainwater.

The purpose of the rain barrel is to capture rainwater runoff to be used for outdoor irrigation instead of turning on the hose. That would probably be a very good thing to do in Texas, if we didn’t go months without getting any rain. What may be the coolest rain barrel in the history of rain barrels was created specifically for this contest… The R2-D2 rain barrel.

The rain barrel was primed and painted in full and accurate R2-D2 likeness by artist Curtis Glover. Better yet, the R2 barrel is up for auction with proceeds going to charity. While it can’t project holograms or hack into the Death Star’s security system, I think the R2-D2 barrel will still bring a pretty penny.